By jjhall on August 19, 2019
It seems to do a good job overall. Under normal operation it keeps the water topped off just as it should, I have no faults with it there. It has 3 sensors: High Level Alarm, Max fill, and minimum fill. The way it works is if the water level hits the top sensor, the alarm beeper turns on for the high level alert. If the water is below that sensor it will read Max. As the level drops below the Max sensor it will read Min. When it drops below the Min sensor, it turns on the pump (in my case a Tom's Lift Pump) to refill the water until it reaches the Max sensor again, then turns off the pump. If the pump is activated for 10 minutes and does not reach the Max sensor, it activates the beeper for the Low Level alert and deactivates the pump.
Where it really falls down is it's really "too automatic" and isn't really "smart" as its name suggests. It has one setting, On. Again under normal operation, this is fine, but that really lacks when it comes to tank maintenance. First of all the sensor levels are not adjustable, the little sensor in the picture above is it. If I stick my arm in the tank if the level is already at or near the max sensor, the level in my sump will rise above the alarm level and it will beep. There is no way to silence the alarm other than turning the unit off entirely. This is fine for a quick dip in the tank to move a rock or pick something out, but incredibly annoying for any longer maintenance. If it had even a 10-minute silence button it would be immensely helpful. Similarly, there is no way to activate the pump manually or allow it to run longer than 10 minutes at a time, the unit has to be turned off and back on for another 10 minute run. If the water level is lower than normal for a known reason, it would be nice to hit a button to activate the pump until it hits the max level even if it takes 20 minutes, then have it resume normal operations.
At it's core it does what it does very well. If it had adjustable-position level sensors, an alarm silence button, and a manual fill button, it would be deserving of 5 stars.
